Talk:Selective mutism

Cultural references

Bold textA few of the links in 'cultural references' and the 'list of well-known people' are referencing cases of hysterical mutism (sudden onset of mutism, often because of trauma). These are misleading and they conflict with some of the other parts of the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.80.110.120 (talk) 19:09, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Something missing?

I think there's something missing from this sentence which mentions effective treatments i.e. "The effectiveness of current treatment methods, generally involving therapy and gentle and supportive introductions to social situations." Maybe something about how successful or otherwise such approaches have proven to be? Can anyone help? Sadly, my own experience working this way with a selectively mute nearly-four-year-old has been unsuccessful in helping her begin to speak to anyone other than her mother.

Additions and Quality

Some details of treatments added, and links to other places where help is available. Needs a little work on the main body still I think Codec 14:13, 24 November 2005 (UTC)

I have started to make some changes to improve the stylistic quality, but I think it would also benefit from so re-structuring for clarity. There is quite a bit of repetition of earlier statements in the "treatment" section, for example. Also, I'm unsure what the following means in that section, can anyone clarify (I'm too lazy to work out who wrote it...):

Sometimes in this situation, a change of environment (such as changing schools) to a place where the condition is not proven make the difference.

--Gilgongo (talk) 22:30, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Most "Well-known people with selective mutism" do not actually have it and many of the "cultural references" seem to be off. I'll change what I'm sure of, but somebody who knows these references better needs to check them. I've glanced at Torey Hayden's book, and I'm not sure that qualifies. Selective mutism is not caused by trauma or stuttering. These are different issues. Selective mutism is only caused by anxiety. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.250.225.138 (talk) 23:23, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

I question the validity of the cultural references for The Makioka Sisters and Lizzie McGuire. Somebody should check that. I deleted the last "famous person" because the article on him said that he had schizophrenia. Really, I cannot emphasize enough that people are not selectively mute if they stutter or are schizophrenic. That is part of the definition of the disorder, which is mentioned in the article. It is better to have few cultural references and no famous people than to confuse readers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.250.225.138 (talk) 17:10, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

rm POV tag from drug treatments section

I removed the POV tag from the Drug treatments section. No messages were left here as to why it was added, and no dispute is taking place. --W2bh (talk) 14:45, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

What happened?

What the heck happened to this page while I wasn't checking it? Every one of the subtypes belongs to an older conception of SM. I deleted them, but they fell under the ideas of "Parent was overprotective," "child was told to keep family secrets," "child was traumatized," and "child is being stubborn." Traumatic mutism, including Speak and Cut, belongs elsewhere, and the others have been disproved. Has anyone seen the movie "Little Voice"? I've read SM sufferers say that they relate to it, but I can't tell just from synopses. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.250.242.189 (talk) 02:28, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

Is this really an anxiety disorder?

I doubt people with selective mutism necessarily have an "anxiety disorder" (and if it is officially categorized as this, I think they did a bad job with the categorization). People with this disorder are not necessarily anxious. In any case, most/all of the sources [citing this as an anxiety disorder] are broken and need to be fixed. --173.52.1.202 (talk) 11:04, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

To my knowledge, it is classified as this. Studies have shown that over 90% of children with Selective Mutism have severe anxiety. What do you think it is? Can you find sources (written after the name change from Elective Mutism, please) that support your view? Thank you for pointing out the two broken links. (In fact, they are the same link. Can the same link be cited twice without it showing up twice?) I fixed them. Please read that and look at other references, especially the "Current Conceptualization," which is number four right now. I realize that many of the sources are not very good, and I am trying to find better ones.

Would whoever added "Psychobabble" to the links please explain why it was put there? Also, I deleted the last two links because they had no apparent connection to the sentence they were cited for. Elemarth (talk) 20:51, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

"Studies have shown that over 90% of children with Selective Mutism have severe anxiety."

90%+ suggests that severe anxiety is highly correlated with SM, and not a necessary condition (even if 100% of people with SM had severe anxiety, it would still not necessarily be a necessary condition). Nonetheless, people with SM can be feasibly categorized as "typically" (but not necessarily) exhibiting severe anxiety. This Wikipedia article, however, currently states that SM is an outright anxiety disorder, as if it was a necessary condition of SM. If it is officially an anxiety disorder, then 100% of people with SM should necessarily have anxiety. Just curious, then. What would people who are voluntarily mute but do not suffer from anxiety (more likely apathy) be called? Just depressed? --96.246.60.72 (talk) 05:14, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

Questions about SM

Questions and discussion about SM on this talk page are discouraged I have moved these here, pending deletion. --gilgongo (talk) 22:23, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

I don't kow if this is where you can ask questions but someone please help me! My daughter is six years old and she doesn't speak at school or to certain people. actually the only people she does speak to are our immediate family and a selected few like gramma. She is so unbelievably smart and good at reading and writing. she talks so much at home and is happy being the bossy oldest child (she has a younger brother and sister). just recently when she started kindergarten she began speaking softly to only her teacher or mouthing things to her daycare provider. But these are things that absolutely have to be said like "I have to go to the bathroom". I have read some stuff on selective mutism and everything sounds like my daughter except the not making eye contact. she looks directly at anyone who speaks to her. she has friends she plays with and she participates in most all activities and will even make animal noise if other kids are. So for a while the teachers considered it a control issue or a game. I was very upset and said no person in this world could control not speaking all day or slipping up at least once, especially when she talks at home. well, about a month ago she got her knee stuck in a tree and the teacher found her there with tears in her eyes. she would not call out for help. so I asked the teacher if she still felt it was a game. I am lost and feel like I am not getting any answers please help suzanne

Hi Suzanne... Have you checked some of the external links in the article? I think this is a good place to ask you questions. Wish you and your daughter all the best :) 83.130.41.28 15:33, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Hmm. On the rare occasions my mother gets really angry at me, I find myself nearly unable to speak. With a lot of effort I can say something, but mostly I end up thinking of what I want to say while being incapable of saying it. Is this selective mutism? It upsets her rather a lot when it happens, because she thinks I'm just giving her "the silent treatment", but I really do have difficulty speaking. - furrykef (Talk at me) 16:49, 17 May 2005 (UTC)

Furrykef-- from my experience with selective mutism, I wouldn't consider your problem to be caused by the disorder. Anxiety and an inability to communicate in tense situations like that is something many people experience, and I think the best way you can help yourself is to explain your difficulty to your mother the next time this happens in order to avoid misunderstanding. Eiffelle 03:30, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

Sorry if this isn't the place for this, but I don't know where else to get any insight as this is a rather unchartered disorder. I've just recently found out about selective mutism and to avoid matching myself with an incorrect diagnosis, I'd like to ask for others opinions. I've been diagnosed everything from bipolar to adhd to borderline personality disorder by a number of psychiatrists, but none of it has seemed to match very well (as well as being on a battery of SSRIs and other psychotropics since 18 [I am now 22]) . I have extreme anxiety problems to point where I have had no peer contact for years at time. I am a complete blabbermouth at home/family, but when it comes to any public situations, especially school, I am almost completely unable to communicate ever (if I am able speak up once or twice a semester, this is considered a success). For instance, I went to college in Baltimore for year and was so anti-social, I made zero friends and zero acquaintances. I really desired to, but am habitually frozen. This has always been a problem my whole life. Sitting in classrooms, common areas, restaurants, etc is unbearable and overwhelming. If I am to go out to eat with people in my family, I can't contain my want to stay hidden and unnoticed, to the point I can't resist habitually pleading them to speak quieter. I have managed to craft a friendship or so in recent years, but even these relations are troublesome as I am often unable to pick up my phone and talk to these people. It is my natural instinct to ignore calls because I feel unable to communicate in the moment. I am not ashamed of myself and am rather accomplished for my age, but why am I unable to communicate in public (sometimes personal) situations? This is horrible, I hope someone can help... dee eye zee 02:28, 07 June 2008 (UTC)

Just a theory, but perhaps it is possible that this is a special autistic matter in context with a few people, but there are not aspie-enough to be considered as aspie, and not social phobic enough to be considered as a social anxiety one. I'm thinking of a between of it. Mistreatment, ADS, Asperger, all that could be the cause of it. But talking/writing about mutistics is a little bit senseless if no one is scanning the brain of mutists for finding brain areas which are anormal. Social Anxiety is a explanation/solution which is a to easy one to define the problem. Probhably it should be observed how aspies and mutists behave in any kind of situations - I think there is a link.

No. I think that autism is the convenient catch-all. One of my mother's friends had a severely autistic daughter, and I later read about other people with autism or Asperger's, so I got a clear idea of what autism is. Lately, though, I see this idea stretched to include more and more people. I have read that some selective mute children may have sensory-overload problems, which sounds like autism to me, and there have been some suggestions, if not studies, about their brains; for instance, that they have a disorder that makes them feel in danger constantly. However, I briefly got to know a selective mute child while I was volunteering at a summer camp. She was a normal child, more mature than many of the campers her age, and interacted with me normally, except that she would not talk. She was AFRAID. This was very obvious. My mother, the one time she saw this girl, commented to me on how frightened she looked. She was NOT autistic. I know that this is personal discussion, but I think this theory needs a counter-argument. I won't make a habit of this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.250.225.138 (talk) 17:57, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

Talk pages are not for personal discussion. 74.242.102.135 08:40, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

Hi, I don't know if this is the place for this story, but it might help some people with this problem. I am now thirteen years old, and I had selective mutism until I was nine years old. I always had patient and loving teachers, which I will be forever thankful for them. However, I realized that in my condition, the only person who could "make" me talk was myself. Until fourth grade, I was never forced to speak when I didn't want to, so I only talked at home and I spoke small words in front of friends. In fourth grade, my teacher used pressure to get me to read from my text book, I didn't like that teacher for that, but by the end of the year, I was talking quietly to my whole class of thirteen people. I think the thing that really helped me was reading a four page essay that I wrote on Colin Powell. I hoped this helped anyone suffering with this problem or any parents who are suffering with their children. I think that you should just be patient, the loving patience that was given to me was really helpful.

Much as we appreciate your comments, I'm afraid Talk pages are not for personal discussion. Please confine your remarks to issues relating the quality of this article. I nominate the personal dicussion here to be removed. --Gilgongo (talk) 10:23, 23 December 2007 (UTC)